LENTY OF EVIDENCE has existed before, but now the conclusion is inescapable: the Democrats cannot understand the most basic law of economics, the law of supply and demand. Faced with spiraling fuel costs and a demand to act, the Democrat-controlled Congress cannot or will not act.

Nancy Pelosi claims the idea to drill in protected coastal areas is a "hoax" and is "echoing the demands of big oil." Ms. Pelosi, whose husband's company has received millions of dollars worth of government contracts directly as a result of her efforts, states a plan to release the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to consumers, and encourages oil companies to drill where there is no oil (my interpretation, based on fact.) Ms. Pelosi wants to leave on her month long vacation without having a vote on plans to increase supply and decrease price. And she claims to be for us.

Way back in my formative years, my classmates at our elite preparatory school and I studied subjects like western civilization. This included reading Greek plays and learning about a literary device known as Deus Ex Machina, or God from the Machine. The idea was that the playwright would create a set of impossible circumstances, and then at the end of the play, the situation would be resolved as if by an act of God.

This technique has wound it's way through history and now is the Democrats' sole hope for progress. Either they hope for some magic technology to save us from, well, circumstances, or they propose solutions that anyone with half a wit would know will not produce the desired result. The conclusion must be that the Democrat "leadership" is either clueless, or they have an ulterior motive. Perhaps they want to subjugate us, but perhaps they are just clueless. The fact is they barricade the way to a better, safer and more competitive America.

This has concerned me greatly for two reasons. First, I know quite a few people, otherwise decent and loving people, who support the moronic or dishonest Democrat "leadership" yet seem intelligent on other matters. Second, because the dysfunctional thinking of the Democrat "leadership" directly affects me. Here is a guide to the Democrat platform:

"We should have a dialogue with the sponsors of terrorism." How's that going to work out? "Please stop cutting off our heads." "No, our religious book exhorts us to cut off your heads." Or how about this: the leader of a sovereign nation known to be a preeminent sponsor of terrorism which is in a de facto war with us in a neighboring country states his intention to blow Israel and the U.S. off the face of the earth, and the Democrats' response is, "they're just kidding."

"We must raise taxes so the rich pay their fair share." Well, darn. How has that worked in the past? All data indicates lower taxes increases government receipts and stimulates the economy. Everyone benefits. Increasing taxes reduces receipts and chokes the economy. This is no secret. Why act in a non-productive way?

"It will take ten years to get the first barrel of oil" from drilling on the continental shelf or in ANWR. This is either ignorant or a lie. You be the judge. Oil executives say three to six years depending on the location.

"We have to have fair heath care for everyone." Who doesn't have health care? No one is turned away in the U.S., regardless of ability to pay. So, you want to have the people who stole our Social Security funds to set up national health care? You want to have the equivalent of the Department of Motor Vehicles deciding what health care you get? People come from all over the world to the U.S. to escape their socialized medicine at home. What don't the Democrats understand? The list is too long, apparently.

"We can't stand four more years of Bush." Hello? Bush isn't running. Bush can't be President again. Are you this poorly informed?

"We never should have invaded Iraq." Why not? Is it OK to let a dictator feed his soccer team to a meat grinder? "Saddam didn't have weapons of mass destruction." If gassing the Kurds wasn't enough, what about the 500 tons of yellow cake uranium we shipped out of Iraq last week? The same yellowcake the Democrat Joseph Wilson said did not exist? Do the Resolutions of the United Nations not have any impact? Are you all completely unable to understand consequences?

The list goes on and on. Still, William Shakespeare's "thou dost protest too much" sheds light on Ms. Pelosi and her party's constant accusations of President Bush and Vice President Cheney as acting to serve "big oil" regardless of whether or not there actually is a "big oil." It is precisely because self-serving and unethical actions are what Ms. Pelosi considers her norm.

Note to Democrats: increasing supply reduces prices. Anything we can do to even appear to be increasing supply will reduce prices. An added benefit is reducing the money we send to people who swear they are our enemies. Either you are for us, or you are against us. Thank you for making your position clear.______Peter W. Wright is a contributor to Right Side News. Mr. Wright has been a technology entrepreneur for over two decades and is a Sleuth of the Realm of The Clue Society, an innovative philanthropic organization. Mr. Wright's education includes an elite prep school, a leading national university, and a tech school located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.